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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>FYI…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>A historical moment for ICANN and the Internet community as the plan to transition stewardship of key Internet functions sent to the USA Government.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>And as my colleague Baher put it in a tweet (<a href="https://twitter.com/baheresmat/status/707974500109844480">here</a>):<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><img border=0 width=646 height=381 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D17BBF.71D1A630" alt="cid:image001.jpg@01D17BBF.71D1A630"></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Indeed history is being written.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Fahd Batayneh<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>ICANN<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Sent:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Thursday, March 10, 2016 9:18 PM<br><b>Subject:</b> ICANN News Alert -- Plan to Transition Stewardship of Key Internet Functions Sent to the U.S. Government<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><div style='border:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:8.0pt 8.0pt 8.0pt 8.0pt'><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.icann.org/"><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=94 height=94 id="_x0000_i1026" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D17BBF.8D299E60" alt=ICANN></span></a><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>News Alert<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2016-03-10-en">https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2016-03-10-en</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style='margin-top:15.0pt'><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><hr size=2 width="100%" align=center></span></div></div><h2 style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Plan to Transition Stewardship of Key Internet Functions Sent to the U.S. Government<o:p></o:p></span></h2><h3 style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Culmination of a Two-Year Effort by the Global Internet Community<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>10 March 2016<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><em><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Marrakech, Morocco…</span></b></em><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board Chair Dr. Stephen D. Crocker today submitted to the U.S. Government a plan developed by the international Internet community that, if approved, will lead to global stewardship of some key technical Internet functions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>&quot;This plan is a testament to the hard work of the global Internet community and the strength of the multistakeholder model,&quot; said Crocker, who transmitted the plan on behalf of the global community. &quot;The plan has now been sent to the U.S. Government for its review, and assuming it meets the necessary criteria, we will have reached an historic moment in the history of the Internet.&quot;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The plan provides a comprehensive package to transition the U.S. Government's stewardship of these technical functions, called the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), which are critical to the Internet's smooth operation. It also proposes ways to enhance ICANN's accountability as a fully independent organization. The transition is the final step in the long-anticipated privatization of the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS), first outlined when ICANN was incorporated in 1998.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The ICANN Board received the package from the community during its 55th public meeting in Morocco, and today transmitted it to the U.S. National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>On 14 March 2014, NTIA announced its desire to transition its stewardship of the IANA functions to the global multistakeholder community. The package is the result of an inclusive, global discussion amongst representatives from government, large and small business, technical experts, civil society, researchers, academics and end users.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>&quot;The Internet community has exhibited remarkable dedication to the IANA stewardship transition because we know just how important it is to complete,&quot; said Alissa Cooper, Chair of the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) that coordinated the development of the transition proposal. &quot;Internet users the world over stand to benefit from its stability, security, and accountability enhancements to Internet governance once the proposal takes effect.&quot;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The global Internet community has worked tirelessly to develop a plan that meets NTIA's criteria, logging more than 600 meetings and calls, more than 32,000 mailing list exchanges and more than 800 working hours.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The package combines the technical requirements of a transition coordinated by the IANA Stewardship Transition Group (ICG) and enhancements to ICANN's accountability identified by the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability). The two groups were composed of volunteers representing a broad range of interests from the wider multistakeholder Internet community.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>&quot;This plan enjoys the broadest possible support from this very diverse community and I'm confident it will meet NTIA's criteria,&quot; said Thomas Rickert, one of the CCWG-Accountability co-Chairs. &quot;The work of this group shows just how well the inclusive multistakeholder approach is working.&quot;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The U.S. Government will now review the package to ensure that it meets NTIA's criteria. If approved, implementation of the plan is expected to be completed prior to the expiration of the contract between NTIA and ICANN in September 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=floatcenter align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>##<span style='color:black'>#</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To see further comments (quotes) on the transmission of the package go here: <a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/iana-stewardship-final-package-quotes">https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/iana-stewardship-final-package-quotes</a> [PDF, 46 KB]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To access the media contacts of Internet organizations involved, go here: <a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/iana-stewardship-final-package-press-contacts">https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/iana-stewardship-final-package-press-contacts</a> [PDF, 284 KB]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To read the IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal, go here: <a href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/iana-stewardship-transition-proposal-10mar16-en.pdf">https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/iana-stewardship-transition-proposal-10mar16-en.pdf</a> [PDF, 2.32 MB]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To read the Enhancing ICANN Accountability Final Report, go here: <a href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/ccwg-accountability-supp-proposal-work-stream-1-recs-23feb16-en.pdf">https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/ccwg-accountability-supp-proposal-work-stream-1-recs-23feb16-en.pdf</a> [PDF, 6.03 MB]<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></body></html>